San Antonio De Los Altos, Venezuela (AFP) Oct 3, 2021 Haydee Rodriguez has just set free a sloth named Maruja 58 in a forested area outside Caracas and is watching her get settled. “Look how pretty! It’s dancing in the trees,” said Rodriguez, who along with her husband Juan Carlos shares a passion for the lethargic mammals that spend a lot of time hanging upside … Continue reading Venezuelan couple goes all out for smiling but endangered sloths

Brussels (AFP) Oct 5, 2021 London has the Thames, Paris the Seine, Vienna and Bratislava and Budapest are all on the Danube. And then there’s Brussels, which had the Senne – until they paved over it. Now, bit by bit, the Belgian capital is starting to uncover its long-hidden waterway to eventually “return nature to the city”. “It’s a real paradigm shift,” Benjamin Thiebaux, heading … Continue reading A river runs through it: Brussels uncovers hidden waterway

Tal Shaeer, Syria (AFP) Oct 5, 2021 After Syrian farmer Abdelbaqi Souleiman lost his last wheat crop to a wildfire, he had hoped for a better harvest this summer. But this spring there was hardly any rain. “Last year the field I planted was burnt to the ground,” said the 48-year-old. “This year there wasn’t enough rain, and we didn’t harvest any wheat.” As man-made … Continue reading Dry year leaves Syria wheat farmers facing crop failure

Jagatdal, India (AFP) Oct 6, 2021 From the boutiques of Christian Dior to royal wedding favours, jute is growing in popularity worldwide as demand for alternatives to plastic soars, with experts predicting the bag industry alone will be worth more than $3 billion by 2024. India is desperate to capitalise on this consumer shift and seize the opportunity to revive its flagging industry, expanding it … Continue reading Rice sacks to runway: India’s battle to rebrand jute

Uppsala, Sweden (SPX) Oct 05, 2021 AAC Clyde Space, a leading New space company, has been selected by OHB Sweden to deliver core avionics worth approx. 797 kEUR (approx. 8.2 MSEK) to ESA’s Arctic Weather Satellite. The order has been preceded by a tightening of the original requirements of the systems. OHB Sweden is the mission prime contractor for the Arctic Weather Satellite, providing the … Continue reading AAC Clyde Space to supply core avionics to Arctic weather satellite

Yangon (AFP) Oct 4, 2021 Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s health has suffered from her frequent appearances before a court run by the military junta that deposed her government, her lawyer said Monday. Suu Kyi went on trial in June, four months after she was taken into custody in a coup that plunged the country into turmoil. The 76-year-old faces a raft of … Continue reading Trial of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi taking toll on her health: lawyer

Saint-Louis, Senegal (AFP) Oct 4, 2021 In the northern Senegalese city of Saint-Louis, excavators are ripping up the beach to lay giant blocks of basalt, in an eleventh-hour effort to keep the sea at bay. When work is finished, a black sea wall will stretch for kilometres along the coastline of the West African country’s former capital, famed for its colonial-era architecture. Dire warnings about … Continue reading Senegal’s old capital on the frontline against rising sea

Milan (AFP) Sept 30, 2021 World leaders must choose between saving the world or condemning “humanity to a hellish future”, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Thursday at a preparatory meeting for a key climate summit next month. The COP26 UN climate summit, which begins on October 31 in Glasgow, is being billed as crucial to the continued success of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The landmark … Continue reading UN chief warns of ‘hellish future’ as youth demand action on climate

Sydney (AFP) Oct 1, 2021 Australia’s powerful mining sector has backed a 2050 net-zero carbon target, heaping pressure on the country’s coal-championing government to follow suit. The Minerals Council of Australia – which represents mining heavy hitters like BHP and Rio Tinto – said a 2050 target was achievable through “significant investment in technology”. “A more sustainable minerals sector is not only impohttp://dlvr.it/S8xxY3 Continue reading Australian mining giants back net-zero target

Washington (AFP) Sept 29, 2021 The United States on Wednesday declared 23 species extinct, including one of the world’s largest woodpeckers, dubbed the “Lord God Bird.” The announcement came via the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which proposed to remove the birds, mussels, fish, as well as a plant and fruit bat from Endangered Species Act protections because government scientists have given up on ever … Continue reading US declares fabled Ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 other species extinct